Alberta To Restrict Compliance Options For Large Industrial Emitters: Smart Policy Or Government Windfall?

On March 3, 2017, Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) released a policy decision (Decision) affecting industrial facilities (Facilities) that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) per year.

The Decision follows the Alberta government's Climate Leadership Plan (Plan), which was released in November 2015 (see our November 2015 Blakes Bulletin: Just Like Any Good Recipe, Alberta's Climate Leadership Plan Has a Little Bit of Everything). The Plan addresses a variety of matters, the most newsworthy of which have been the transition from, and elimination of, GHG emissions from coal-fired power plants by 2030, and a broad-based carbon levy. It also outlines the transition, as of January 1, 2018, from the current Facility-specific emissions reductions under the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation (SGER), in which a Facility must make annual reductions in GHG emissions in comparison to its historical baseline emissions, to one that is predicated upon a